There are an increasing number of people who are taking multiple medications each day. Studies have shown that about half of these people do not take their medication correctly. Taking medication incorrectly can result in medication related problems that can be fatal, can lead to hospital and nursing home admissions and contribute to prolonged or additional illnesses in the patient. According to research, many elderly patients using pillboxes do not follow recommended practices. In the USA, medication related problems are estimated to amount to a total cost of approximately $600-$800 million per year. With an increasing group of senior citizens, this number is expected to rise.
Currently, different devices are available to help patients organize medication, to remind patients to take their medication or to monitor the patient's adherence. Once such medication organization device that can be used by a patient is the Simpill, see http://www.simpill.com/ for further information. The Simpilll is comparable to a normal seven day, four times a day, pill box, with the added feature of monitoring the user's behavior. This pill box sends a timestamp to a central server when the lid has been opened and closed. However, the user has to fill the pill box. Simpill also has a reminder function, but it will only remind the user when the medication has not been taken in time, for example the device will then send an SMS to remind the user to take their medication. If the user still does not take their medication, a caregiver can be notified via SMS. A pharmacist has access to a secured web site with the information about the compliance of the patient. Each month the user receives a report with a summary of the achieved results.
A second device is Dispense-a-pill by HealthOneMed, see http://www.dispenseapill.net/dap.html. This device will dispense the right amount of medication from a container with one type of medication. The device can hold up to eight different containers. When there is a change in the medication schedule, the user can adapt this via the interface of the device. When the medication is not in a pill form, a reminder can also be programmed into the device, for example a reminder to take an insulin injection. The dispenser is not readily portable, and therefore does not offer anything in which the user can take along their medications, for taking an early dose, for example.
A further device is EMMA® by INRange Systems Inc, see http://www.inrangesystems.com/, for further information. This device is programmed by the patient's health-care provider and can dispense individual doses of ten different drugs for up to a month's supply. Prescriptions and refills are prepared in blister cards dispensed by a pharmacy to the patient; the cards are then loaded into the dispenser. They have a barcode, so the dispenser knows which medication has been inserted. Use is supervised by the patient's healthcare team which, through a web-based, remote connection, can modify dosages and schedules of contained drugs. These licensed professionals can make real-time dose and timing changes.
Another device is MedReady, see http://www.medready.inc.com/. Medready is a unit that is lockable, preventing a person from inadvertently overdosing. The unit has twenty-eight compartments to hold medication and can be programmed to deliver up to four doses a day. The unit rotates and, at the pre-set times, the alarm rings and a door can be opened to access the appropriate medication. By opening the door to access the medication, the alarm is silenced. With proper use, a person should be able to adhere to the medication schedule. The user is responsible for sorting out the medication scheme. MedReady can hold twenty-eight dosages, and has up to four alarms a day. For many patients, particularly those on complex medication schedules who may need up to eight doses a day, this device cannot provide sufficient medication over a long-enough period of time.
A final prior art device is Philips MD2, also referred to as Personal Medication Dispenser, see for example http://www.epill.com/md2.html. Using a programmed schedule, the MD2 device dispenses cups with a dose of medication that have been put into the device. The MD2 can hold up to sixty dosages, and has up to six alarms a day. In practice, people often write date and time on the cups to be sure which dosage it is. When programmed, the programming buttons are hidden for the end user, and only one button remains, the one that stops the alarm and dispenses the cup with medications.
All of the current pill dispensers, except the EMMA system, rely on the user to sort out the medication scheme and to program the device. This point is regarded as difficult by users and considered to be error prone. Consequently this task is often done by caregivers reducing the autonomy and independence of the people taking the medication. Furthermore, none of the current medication management devices offer a reminder that is ‘on-body’, so it is expected that the user will be in range of the product, at least at the times they will need to take their medication. Also, conventional pill dispensers and medication management systems do not give enough feedback to the patients and the caregivers to prevent errors. As a consequence patients continue to be non-compliant to their medication regimen. It is therefore an object of the invention to improve upon the known art.